Cognitive ability, parenting and instruction in Vietnam and Germany Heiner Rindermann ⁎, Quyen Sen Ngoc Hoang 1 , Antonia E.E. Baumeister 1 Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany article info abstract Article history: Received 7 March 2013 Received in revised form 30 May 2013 Accepted 30 May 2013 Available online xxxx In a sample of N = 105 fifth graders from Vietnam and Germany, cognitive abilities (CogAT- Nonverbal, i.e. fluid figural, CogAT-Quantitative, i.e. crystallized mathematics), family attributes, parenting styles, leisure time activities, and attributes of school and instruction were compared. In spite of large cultural and economic differences, the general cognitive ability levels were similar (M Vnm = 99.43 vs. M Deu = 99.13 IQ points in current UK norms). This result is in contradiction to usual outcomes in developing countries. However, regarding family, parenting, school and instruction, differences were observed: German families had more books. German parents were less frequently married and German families less frequently consisted of both mother and father. Vietnamese parents had more children. Vietnamese parents showed higher levels of authoritarian and neglecting parenting. German children read more books. The Vietnamese did not attend kindergarten, had larger classes, more homework, and more private tuition. In a path analysis, parental educational level, number of books, burgher family, low birth order rank, amount of teaching, parental income, Confucian educational orientation and Vietnamese background all revealed a positive impact on children's intelligence. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cognitive competences Intelligence Parenting style School and instruction Intercultural comparison Vietnam in the past did not participate in international cognitive competence studies. 2 However, various studies in Western countries have measured the cognitive competence and school achievement of students with East Asian back- ground. These studies usually found that East Asian students, whether they themselves, their parents, or forebearers immi- grated, outperform their native schoolmates (e.g. American Psychological Association, 2003; Flynn, 1991; Nisbett, 2009; Steinberg, Mounts, Lamborn, & Dornbusch, 1991). In the United States, this includes students with Vietnamese background (e.g. Bankston, Caldas, & Zhou, 1997; Caplan, Choy, & Whitmore, 1992). Further, reports in Germany about Vietnamese students highlight their good school achievement (Peters, 2011; Spiewak, 2009). For example, more Vietnamese than German students attend grammar schools and reach the high-school diploma levels (“Abitur”). 3 These superior achievement and competence results in Western countries are rather astonishing considering the usually low language proficiency of immigrant Vietnamese parents, their low-SES jobs as retailers (often of low quality kitsch and cheap ersatz products) and snack bar operators, resulting in their relatively poor economic situation. There is no evidence amongst the Vietnamese migrants that they have at least an average amount of economic, cultural or educational capital. Additionally, some of them have had traumatic experiences of Intelligence 41 (2013) 366–377 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Wilhelm-Raabe-Str. 43, Chemnitz D-09107, Germany. Tel.: +49 371 531 38715; fax: +49 371 531 838715. URL's:URL: heiner.rindermann@psychologie.tu-chemnitz.de, http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/hrin (H. Rindermann). 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. 2 Vietnam took part in the large-scale assessment PISA for the first time in 2012, but the results will not be published until the end of 2013. 3 The German vice chancellor and Minister for Economics (and chairman of the ruling party FDP), Dr. Philipp Rösler, physician, is a Vietnamese orphan adopted at nine months by Germans and raised in Germany. He was the youngest Minister for Economics Germany had, the first Minister and the first and up to now single chairman of a party with migration background. 0160-2896/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2013.05.011 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Intelligence journal homepage: